Nearly 30 citizens of Russellville gathered Tuesday night at the Russellville Police Department to not only make their elected officials accountable, but join together and open the lines of communication within their community.

Citizens, city councilmen, former elected officials and candidates for city positions listened to each other and discussed ways lines of communication could be expanded.

"The number of people here tonight tells me a lot about what I feel about this," explained R.E. "Rudy" Rudolph, who spearheaded Tuesday night's community action group discussion. "If this group that we have started right here does something and holds hands nice and tight, and gets things done properly and gets it humming real good, the word will spread around town. Wouldn't it be good if we had just 100 people in every county holding hands together? That would be 7,500 people around the state. We need to start at the local level. I think we have a really good start."

Rudolph stated before he moved to Russellville three years ago from Vermont, he became concerned about governmental issues happening in his former community. He sent out letters to 153 people pertaining to issues concerning "the country being in a precarious situation, bureaucrats have been built and are spending more money to make federal government larger by the minute," and if the country is more beneficial than it was years ago.

Rudolph said he became more concerned because of the 153 letters he sent in Vermont, only four persons responded. Informed Citizens of Russellville (ICOR) has been formed, Rudolph went on to say, because he and more than 20 in attendance at Tuesday's meeting is concerned about such issues.

"Today's professional politicians are controlled by federal money," said Rudolph. "They have voted themselves huge benefits denied to the average citizen. We have a massive problem, and politicians are not going to make the necessary changes. We must make the changes. We can use the Constitution; use written demand for change, and use the most common communication tool, the telephone."

Citizens in attendance asked questions among themselves and Mayor Raye Turner, including when they can be heard at city council meetings, and inquired on issues such as the recent special election to continue the one-cent citywide sales tax for economic development and infrastructure improvements, as well as the recent banner issue.

After one citizen asked what the mayor thought, Turner responded that she doesn't believe gripes are productive.

"If you gripe, you must have a solution," Turner said. "I try to refrain from griping when I don't have a solution. I appreciate participation. If people have something they want to address, communication is a key component. Put it in writing, so we can look it over and process and gather the proper information. Then, the persons with the proper information can be at the meetings to answer any questions.

"One of the things you stated as your goal is community involvement. One of the things to understand is the documentation involved. You can see what the documentation says. All documents are always available at City Hall."

A list of items from audience members they would like to see addressed by ICOR included more interest in city council and Pope County Quorum Court meetings and issues; ensure that laws are upheld; educate citizens about the power they hold over the government; ensure that taxpayer funds are spent wisely; end apathy; encourage elected officials to be respectable to their rights and movement in government; and remind the local media that they are there to report the truth, not what they think is the truth.

"How do we find out? Communication is a very serious thing to me," Rudolph explained. "I believe we, the people of Russellville, can establish a way elected officials can communicate with us. There's a lot of money spent sometimes that I am totally against that we could have been informed about in the form of a letter. A page in our mailbox telling us about things before they happen. How much would it cost to have a flyer sent out to the people in Russellville through the mail? Not much. Guess what? We're the majority."

Participants suggested the next meeting of the community action group be scheduled for 7 p.m. Nov. 12 at the police department.